Let’s Go To The Theater

Palm Beach County’s Arts scene is off and running. The museums, galleries, concert halls and stages are filled with plays and concerts galore this season. So instead of trying to tell you all that the county has to offer I thought I would stick to the theater. So here are some fine shows you need to see this season!

 Over in West Palm Beach you’ll find Palm Beach Dramaworks, since 2000 they have strived to bring live theatre productions of classic, contemporary and overlooked play to our area. Starting from December 6 until January 5 they are producing the show Ordinary Americans – a world premiere for this play. This commissioned play, based on events in the lives of Gertrude Berg and Philip Loeb, the pioneering stars of television’s groundbreaking sitcom, The Goldbergs (not the current ABC comedy), reveals the double-edged sword between speaking out and staying silent. Their next main stage production is Skylight that will run from February 7 until March 1. The play is a 1996 winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play. This play is a story of two lovers unexpectedly reunited on a bitterly cold London evening. Can incompatible values and opposing worldviews be bridged if passion remains? Stay tuned!

 Are you still here in West Palm Beach? Pop over to the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and see some shows here. This season they have their Kravis On Broadway series that showcases popular Broadway shows in a traveling company. Kravis has some huge hits coming your way! From December 10 until December 15, make a date to The Play That Goes Wrong. A cross between Monty Python and Downton Abbey, the comedy taken from the West End stage is a 1920’s whodunit play within a play in which everything that can go wrong will go wrong. A Bronx Tale takes the stage from January 7 until the 12. A heartfelt story based on actor’s Chazz Palminteri’s life of family and loyalty set in the Bronx. And, for the most talked about show of the decade, Hamilton, premieres here from January 28 until February 16. Hamilton is the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. It features a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway. Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now.

 For a little theater south of West Palm Beach, head to Lake Worth and visit the Lake Worth Playhouse. Their season includes Inspecting Carol, its A Christmas Carol meets The Government Inspector meets Noises Off in this hilarious hit. A man who asks to audition at a small theater is mistaken for an informer for the National Endowment for the Arts. Everyone caters to the bewildered wannabe actor, and he is given a role in the current production, A Christmas Carol. Everything goes wrong and hilarity is piled upon hilarity. Inspecting Carol runs from November 14 until December 1. Next production is Gypsy, regarded by many theater professionals as the greatest musical ever created. Gypsy is the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters’ success… while secretly yearning for her own. Gypsy will run from January 16 until February 2.

 So, take a little time to catch a play or musical this season. You won’t regret it. Enjoy!